Letters to the editor (12/27/81)

Letters to the editor

Famine study

Below is the letter written by Dr. James E. Mace in response to Oksana Piaseckyj's letter which was published in The Weekly on December 13. The original letter was sent to Mrs. Piaseckyj; a copy was forwarded by Dr. Mace to The Weekly for publication.

Dear Mrs. Piaseckyj:

Thank you for sending me a copy of your letter to The Ukrainian Weekly and thereby giving me the opportunity of commenting on the issue you raised. I understand and sympathize with the concerns you have expressed; however, I hope I shall be able to mitigate your apprehensions to some extent.

First of all, I would like to point out that our work is still at an early stage, and neither Prof. Conquest nor I can state with certainty what the finished monograph will say. I attempted to point out that Prof. Conquest had indicated the general boundaries of what he wishes to do, which is to focus on the Ukrainian tragedy within the context of what was simultaneously happening in the Soviet Union as a whole. Indeed, it is impossible to bring the unique elements of the Ukrainian famine to the reader's attention without comparing it with what was happening elsewhere. Doing so in no way implies that the Ukrainian famine will receive a diluted treatment. On the contrary, it is hoped that such a treatment will bring the Ukrainian tragedy all the more sharply into focus.

Secondly, in my interview I attempted to place the famine within the context of the suppression of Ukraine's national elites in order to point out that the suppression of the peasantry went hand in hand with a general policy aimed at the forcible subjugation of the Ukrainian nation. It is my view that the suppression of Ukrainian cultural figures, the Skrypnyk wing of the party, the policy of Ukrainization, and the agricultural population are all components of Stalin's attempt to solve the "Ukrainian problem" by liquidating the nation's cultural elite, re-Russifying the cities, and pushing Ukrainian culture back to the countryside where Ukrainians were legally attached to the land by means of the internal passport system like serfs.

I hope you will not find my emphasis misplaced and that you will find the issues which trouble you dealt with.

Thank you once more for expressing your concerns and allowing me to share my thoughts with you.

James E. Mace
Cambridge, Mass.

Mixed marriages

Dear Editor:

My husband and I read your newspaper every week. I really enjoy it. Recently a lot of people have been writing in about the "folly" of mixed marriages. I grew up in a Ukrainian neighborhood, went to Ukrainian school, Plast, etc. I caused quite a scandal when, at the young age of 16, I married a non-Ukrainian.

First of all, I am tired of being put down for not marrying a Ukrainian. It has not made me any less Ukrainian. In fact my 3-year-old daughter is now attending a Ukrainian nursery school once a week. Next year she will be attending a public nursery school as well. She will know both languages and cultures.

Second of all, whenever I see certain young Ukrainians now, most of them seem to be living in a different time-warp. They seem to be lost in their own little world in which nothing changes, they still act like teenagers. Well I would like to know what will happen when they have to grow up and move out on their own? They will have to deal mostly with non-Ukrainians, whether they like it or not.

I think that the Ukrainian culture is too rich to die, whether we intermarry or not. But since we are now living in America, we have to let our little world grow to be able to contribute what we are to the rest of the country.

Irene Morcigli
Brooklyn, New York

Ethnic origin

Dear Editor:

The belief that one is a Russian, Jew, Ukrainian, or Hispanic is destructive to our species. Humanity must rid itself of the parochialism caused by the conglomeration of religious, ethnic and national categories we have created.

The letters I have read in the November 22 Weekly about mixed marriages, heritage, music, etc., disappoint me as a Ukrainian. If music, art, creations, etc., are good, they will be remembered regardless of their origin.

Robert Barron
Stratford, Conn.

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